Ph.D. Phan Huu Thang: How to have an effective and good corporate governance?

Invited in the launching event of TheLEADER Magazine on August 8, 2017, and listening to its orientation, I was attracted and inspired to write this article titled “How to administrate efficiently?”

According to the TheLEADER’s Editorial Board, the magazine is the information forum of the Vietnam Association of Corporate Directors (VACD), aiming at creating a forum for sharing information to enhance governing ability, especially of Vietnamese enterprises in the context that Vietnamese economy has been integrated widely and deeply in the global economy. TheLEADER is expected to become an online newspaper with practical economic information, being a useful companion of administrators.

The question “How to administrate efficiently?” appears in every field of life, from national and communal scale to organisations, enterprises and even each family.

In the press industry, such online newspaper as TheLEADER should update information, avoid plagiarism, deeply research and propose practical measures drawn from real life which can be applied in people’s life and business, and from their responsibilities for enterprises, family and community, creating an efficient business that is associated with sustainable development.

Each media agency is a media business, and like other businesses, it is important to understand and screen yourself in the process of working with administration issues in society and its internal side.

To each organisation and enterprise, “management with vision, action and influence of administration” is more interesting and useful than people used to think.

To administrate efficiently, a leader must have not only a far but also broad vision. Specifically, it must be a sight for at least ten years with proper adjustment and related to different fields.

He also has to propose strong measures to implement the organisation's plans successfully.

For instance, just a small thing can make a huge difference. A business owner invests in a high-rise building for rent with a vision that at least within next five years there would be no rival in the area. 

His business ran very well within five years after the construction. He also replaced a staff who is his relative with a new one who is willing to turn off the lights in the joint areas, saving the building an enormous amount of electricity fee.

However, corrupt administration in society has impacted enterprises significantly. For example, that business has to struggle to survive after that five years because of non-transparent inspection, complicated administrative procedures and the emergence of other rented office buildings in the area.

This example shows the interaction within an administration, from high to low level, from macro, micro economics and to the enterprises themselves, which bring common effects to companies in particular and the economy in general.

An efficient administration in the society is the one who can alleviate serious problems, especially corruption which has been fighting for years but showing no significant result, reducing labours' trust and undermining organisations’ administration effort.

There are still many FDI companies in Vietnam whose administrations cannot upgrade their equipment and technologies and also manage loosely during the operation. Outdated and low-tech waste treatment equipment, for example, are still easily imported to Vietnam, causing serious environmental problems despite the vision of attracting high technology 30 years ago. This issue shows that with a bad administration, the implementation cannot meet the requirement of the vision and goal.

More than one year ago, the bad administration influenced enterprises and businesses in four provinces in the central coastal region of Vietnam when Formosa Hatinh, a steel plant built by the Taiwanese corporation Formosa Plastics, discharged toxic industrial waste illegally into the ocean, causing serious environmental problems.

Obviously, if the corruption and loose management over FDI companies are not solved radically, the administration result would be significantly impacted.

Also, the consequence might be more severe if there are corrupted figures within those FDI companies.

Vietnam still needs more great administrators to participate in all stages and linkages of the economy and social administration, making a real contribution to national development.